As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words! This makes it extremely tempting to add images to blog posts and newsletters. But is that photo you’ve got your eye on really free to use? Join me on a journey to investigate a photo’s origin!
One of my favorite free stock photos sites is Pixabay. Users can create an account on Pixabay, where they may upload original artwork and photos to share with other users. Many images are marked as free for commercial use with no attribution required, presenting quite a bit of flexibility.
Of course, there’s always room for a malicious operator to sneak in and upload stolen art. Fortunately, there is a quick and simple way to investigate if an image is actually free to use! Before downloading an image from Pixabay, I like to perform a reverse image search. This scours Google for the same or similar images. When using the Google Chrome browser, simply right click the image and select “search google for image.” You may also drag and drop the image into the google search bar.
Reverse image search results feature the original image in the top left corner. If the image appears on other websites, you’ll see links showing the range of sizes available. Click on “all sizes” to see the full scope of what you are dealing with. If an image is truly free, the results should feature other blog posts and websites that have already used the image. In some cases, you may notice another stock photo website, or even an online retailer in the results! If this happens, take a moment to click through the suspicious links. You may find that someone else owns the image. If that’s the case, do not use it!
Once you’ve determined that an image is free to use, download it and follow the instructions for attribution. On Pixabay, a pop up window provides a caption that credits the artist and links back to the website. This is a simple way to show your appreciation to the artist who has graciously shared their work for free. You may also donate to support the artist, which Pixabay facilitates via Paypal.
Now you know, it’s super simple to trace an image’s origin with the help of Google!
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